Rights statement: This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 190, 2021 DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.08.013
Accepted author manuscript, 1.22 MB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC-ND: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Internet usage and the cognitive function of retirees
AU - Green, Colin
AU - Mao, Likun
AU - O'Sullivan, Vincent
N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 190, 2021 DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.08.013
PY - 2021/10/31
Y1 - 2021/10/31
N2 - Cognitive decline amongst older people is associated with poor health and lower quality of life. Previous studies demonstrate that retirement is a particularly critical period for cognitive decline and highlight the importance of post-retirement behaviours. Using longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, this study examines the effect of information technology usage on cognitive function, focusing specifically on internet usage. To address the endogenous relationship between cognitive function and IT usage, we adopt an instrumental variable approach that exploits variation in pre-retirement computer exposure due to the uneven computerisation of occupations across countries during the 1980s and 1990s. Our results suggest moderating effects of IT usage on the cognitive decline of retirees. These results are concentrated amongst people who worked in middle-skill occupations, occupations that have previously been shown to have experienced large-scale computerisation.
AB - Cognitive decline amongst older people is associated with poor health and lower quality of life. Previous studies demonstrate that retirement is a particularly critical period for cognitive decline and highlight the importance of post-retirement behaviours. Using longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, this study examines the effect of information technology usage on cognitive function, focusing specifically on internet usage. To address the endogenous relationship between cognitive function and IT usage, we adopt an instrumental variable approach that exploits variation in pre-retirement computer exposure due to the uneven computerisation of occupations across countries during the 1980s and 1990s. Our results suggest moderating effects of IT usage on the cognitive decline of retirees. These results are concentrated amongst people who worked in middle-skill occupations, occupations that have previously been shown to have experienced large-scale computerisation.
KW - Cognitive function
KW - internet
KW - computers
KW - retirees
M3 - Journal article
VL - 190
SP - 747
EP - 767
JO - Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
JF - Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
SN - 0167-2681
ER -